TORMENT is quite an unusually plotted little murder mystery film, made by the little-known Advance Productions who only made three films. I saw it on the Talking Pictures TV channel under the title PAPER GALLWOS. Although the running time is a scant 77 minutes, it feels quite slow-moving, particularly in the first half which doesn't really add much in the way of plotting or character.
The storyline is unusual in teaming up two British B-movie stars, John Bentley and Dermot Walsh, as brothers who are both mystery writers. They should have added Paul Carpenter as the long-lost Canadian brother while they were. Bentley is his usual stock heroic figure, warm, likable, and humorous, while Walsh is more sinister, a man given over to deep brooding and nefarious plots.
Much of the plot hinges around a witnessed murder and the subsequent disappearance of the corpse, which was a typical plot development in this genre of film-making. Michael Martin Harvey (THE CASE OF CHARLES PEACE) has a nice little role as a scoundrel. Things only really pick up here for the climax, which is admittedly well mounted, although it comes too late to save what has been a rather murky and unbelievable thriller. Lead actress Rona Anderson was known for her role in SCROOGE and had a lengthy career in film and TV, while director John Guillermin is of course well known for going on to direct Hollywood classics like THE TOWERING INFERNO.
